How do you lose a stitch dictionary?

I just don't get where the bloody thing has gone. It was one of those big'uns - a hardback and many pages and some pounds in weight. Not the sort of thing that would be easy to mislay you'd have thought. And I've been looking for it for more than a month now. Now that is some ditsy tidying on my part. All this means that I am in the market for a new one and I'm not really sure what to go for. Here are my options:

• Vogue Stitchonary amazon link
• Harmony Ultimate Sourcebook amazon link (this is the one I have lost)
• Some sort of Barbara Walker one
• Something else..

Does anyone have any advice/guidance for me? I think I'll hold out til ally pally to see whether there are any on offer and if I don't find one then I'll go with whatever you guys recommend.

In other news I have been relieved to hear that my ravelry queue is in fact nothing to be worried about and not a sign of my impending deterioration into madness. I liked one comment that it was a place to use to be able to find things again so in that spirit I really ought to make it a great deal longer than it is at present!

The other thing weighing on my mind - other than the whereabouts of my stitch dictionary, the length of my queue, the circumference of my stomach and the location of the nearest chocolate - is the podcast. I *really* enjoy doing it and I've had loads of lovely messages from people who seem to like it as much as I do. But I'm having terrible trouble finding time for it. I will be continuing with it for definite but it may be one of those annoyingly irregular ones that just happen to pop up now and again. In the meantime I can not recommend strongly enough my all time favourite: CraftyPod by Sister Diane which is just amazing. For pure knitting I've been listenging to all the knitpicks podcasts on my trusty ipod and they really are very good. Both are on itunes.

Oh yes, that reminds me. There has been a lot of emails flying about SkipNorth - that fabulous knitting and spinning holiday that takes the hardcore knitters and spinners to Haworth every year. I can confirm that there will definitely be one! The date and cost are currently being confirmed by Nic and I. The cost is going to be a bit higher this year as we have two small coaches instead of that huge one from last year (not doing that again on those tiny roads!) but it will still be remarkable for a weekend including bed, meals and transport. Give me a week or so and I'll know the exact price and open up the bookings.

Kew and Queue

Knitting first... the 2-needle socks progress nicely. Turned the heel on the first one.

Ah, actually that's the only knittign I can show as the rest has been secret knitting. But you can go and look at it on ravelry (I'm littlelixie btw). I do however wish to highlight this little bit of it...

A while ago there was a big fuss about knit clips to hold knitting together while you sort out the seam. These are hair clips - about a £1 for 20 in matalan and other more reputable establishments. Work really well. Or why not break out the patterned ones...

Very cute!

So lastly on the knitting front - queues. I now have 74 things in my queue on ravelry. Is this normal? I suppose I ought to go and poke around in someone else's and find out. I just keep seeing things I like and want to make. The new knitty.com has also added a few items to it. There is a circular yoke in brown/turquoise I rather like the look of.

And so to other things - Pooch and I went all the way to Kew today. I looooooved it - Pooch didn't. He'd expected there to be animals. I really love a nice plant, especially some variegated foliage. Pooch and I both agreed that the waterlily house was the best. Amazing to see them so big and surrounded by every type of chili you can think of growing on bushes. Enjoy...

But what would this blog be without the weekly wine inspection. Tesco have a sale on so the collection has grown somewhat. We're well into third row territory. I haven't yet enquired whether it is red or white, but as soon as I find out I'll report back.

PS...new shoes!